The native Gardielese humans have been living there for centuries, in fishing villages and a few port towns. They claim to be the remnants of the grand nautical empire that had mastered the waves, but little evidence of their claims still exist, beyond the presence of scattered ruins across Tal-Gardiel and the other islands in the region. Perhaps the Falwood Elves know, but if so they have shown no interest in sharing their knowledge.
But where the legacy of the Gardielese is lost to time, the history of Nerak is well documented. The largest port town on the island once held the name of Mjandra, in the center of a large protected bay called in local Gardielese 'Marsamxett.' Some two hundred years ago, it unexpectedly found itself host to a hodgpodge flotilla of ships, all survivors of a vast storm that found protection in the Marsamxett. Large Vel Aniran hulks and swift Alliran galleys, Kaliti Dhow's and Elbionese Dromons, Nazrani catamarans and others from even more far off realms. All told nearly 40 ships clustered in the bay.
Blah blah more stuff.
Anyway they founded a city, but could never master the native tongue, and instead called it Nerak. A free city, a community of exiles, it's lifeblood was the sea and so it remains. But subject to the whims of the capricious and spiteful god Karofels, The One Who Swallows Life and Gives Back Death, they know well that one who would make their life by the sea must be willing to take whatever you can, and give nothing back.
So the sailors and people of Nerak wear two sets of cloth. On the one hand, they are fishers and merchants, masters of the carrying trade, whose ships make port around the world and can be relied upon to deliver a cargo to anywhere, no questions asked.
But when the storm calls, they must answer, for Karofels demands blood, and it would be foolhardy to deny the Leviathan his feast. Nerak is also known as a city of Corsairs, of bold pirates who can navigate the spear, and who prey upon the meek and foolish on both sides of The Spear.
Caravel
The most instantly recognizable Nerakan ship is the caravel. Caravel's vary in size, but tend to be fairly small, with two or three masts and lateen sails. They average between 12-18m in length, with a crew of around 20-40. Fast and very seaworthy, caravel's are generally used as tradeships, but most of the Admirals are also fond of using them as fast corsairs.
Galley
Galleys remain the classic near-land ship of the seas and oceans. Nerakan galleys are modern designs, and feature one or two prominent sails with a single bank of rowers. Galleys vary in size, but average around 50 meters long, with three rowers per seat and 25 sets of oars. Average crew varies from 150-200, typically around 100 rowers, 20-30 proper sailors, and the rest a complement of marines.
Merchant Galley's don't carry a marine complement, but the rowers on both types of ships are either contracted laborers, conscripts, or debtors, and expected to fight alongside the crew. Larger galleys are entirely possibly, but with the introduction of the galleass and carrack they have started to become obsolete, and are rarely seen. The most common variants are half-galleys (or galiots) at 25m long with 15 pairs of oars, and 'War' or 'Great' Galleys that tend to be around 70m long with 35 pairs of oars.
With ramming tactics are largely a thing of the fast thanks to keel-based construction, modern galleys are focused on boarding tactics. All Nerakan warships however, also feature extensive steel-torsion artillery, on a galley this is typically a battery of dart-throwing scorpions mounted on protected forecastle, and a few larger ballista or two-armed catapults on a raised aftcastle.
Galleasses
While the Galleys and Caravel's of Nerak tend to do double duty as both merchants and corsairs, the large fearsome Galleasses (known in the region as Wolf Ships) are designed purely as warships. A cross between a Galley and Caravel, they are also known as 'Bastard Ships' or 'Bastard Galleys'.
The most innovative feature on the galleass is the addition of broadside springalds, typically between 4-8 per side, designed to fire spinning broad barbed darts that tear through wooden decking and sides. With the larger aftcastles, the wolfships almost always are equipped with rock-throwing two-armed catapults, and two or three-man scorpions are mounted wherever there is free space. As one might expect on a warship experimenting with the concept of artillery as the primary weapon, wolfships are almost always deployed with several deckmages for magical protection and offense.
Carracks
Also known as a '
Greatship,' '
Nef,' or '
Kraak' Nerakan Carrack's are among the largest and most powerful ships sailing the seas today. These three or four masted vessels, with large prominent fore and aftcastles, represent the pinnacle of ship construction. Capable of long-distance voyages at sea, they are excellent trading vessels, with vast cargo holds for both stores and goods. They are also, thanks to their size, high sides, large crews, and impressive armament, very difficult targets for pirates. In the Nerakan tradition, the ships are well equipped with torsion artillery in the fore and aftcastles, but they are rarely used as warships due their cost, being much more effective as long-range trade and exploration ships. While quite swift and seaworthy under full press, they lack the maneuverability and shallow-water versatility of an oar-powered galley, or the hybrid Galleass.
In battle they act as mobile fortress, the centerpiece of any fleet, using their artillery to bombard enemy ships at long range. Inevitably, any carrack deployed to a fight will feature a full complement of deck mages at least two fully fledged navigators to supplement their conventional arms. If all else fails, carrack crews tend to number around 500, and they can quite feasibly fend off multiple boarding ships at once by weight of numbers.
